Looking to make a solid financial investment? According to the most up-to-date Geostellar Quarterly Index, investing in a solar photovoltaic (PV) system for your rooftop is highly profitable and tops many other investment strategies. Couple this information with the fact that the majority of people today who install solar on their homes are primarily doing it for the purpose of saving money, and you’ve got a winning combination.

Investment Comparisons – Solar vs. Cars and Home Improvements

The major investments people usually make are in their home and their car. Cars are assets, but they continually depreciate. Investing in home improvements has not proven to produce a high rate of return; renovating only gives a home’s value a boost some of the time. And neither cars nor homes actually generate income.

Compare cars and homes to the profitability potential of solar, which:

Immediately yields dividends,

Increases the value of your home, and

Produces no-maintenance dividends.

Residents in Massachusetts have apparently come to realize the investment benefits of solar. In a recent survey by a clean-energy company, it was discovered that 7 out of 10 people in the state recognize that solar is the best investment, when the other choices were buying a new car or renovating your home. Their reasons included the long-term value of solar, lower energy costs, and benefits to the environment.

Investment Comparisons – Rooftop Solar vs. S&P 500

In 13 states, installing a rooftop solar system has been found to be among the best investments that can be made, including producing a better return on investment than investing in the S&P 500. The states and their return on investment in solar over a 25-year lifespan of the solar panels include:

Hawaii at 24%

Colorado at 15%

New Mexico at 13%

California at 12%

The 2012 states which installed the greatest amount of solar capacity were California, Arizona, and New Jersey; none of these three states made the top 5 states in which return on investment is greatest. Incentives such as tax credits in Connecticut and New York propelled those states to the top 5 of the Geostellar Solar Index.

In calculating rooftop solar profitability, some factors that were considered were:

Besides the 13 states which offered a higher return on investment than the S&P-500, about 33 states offered a better ROI for solar than when purchasing a 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond, which yields a 3.7% return.

CEO David Levine, Geostellar Founder, put the news in clear terms: If homeowners install a rooftop solar system, they will generate more wealth than with CDs, stocks, bonds, or other investments. He says that residential solar power has moved beyond being practical to being a wise, solid investment.

In the top states on the Geostellar index, the investment that a homeowner makes in a rooftop solar system would be paid back in full within just four to six years; after that, they would receive energy free of charge worth another five times the amount of the initial investment.

Contact any of our NASS stores for professional installation of solar panels and to ask any questions you may have about the feasibility of solar where you live.

Federal incentives are available to people in all 50 states, and they are intended to encourage people to make the switch to renewable energy sources. Iowa has additional advantages which will not only result in lower electricity costs for the long term, but they will also significantly cut the cost of solar installation. Among those benefits are Iowa state incentives as well as rebates and incentives from utility companies.

Going Solar is Smart

Iowa incentives and rebates aside for a moment, there are other undeniable benefits to installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on your rooftop; and it’s just smart to get in on them. Whether you live in Iowa, New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, or anywhere else, the following are great benefits of going solar:

Every month you can save money on your electric bill; and your savings begin immediately, even if you finance your solar PV system, in the majority of cases. In addition, your solar system pays for itself entirely over time.

Having solar panels helps to protect you against hikes in electricity rates. Every time the cost of gasoline increases, it’s like you are increasing your amount of savings by using solar energy. Over the past 30 years, utility rates have gone up, on average, 5% annually. In 2006 alone, some residential rates jumped as much as 55% in more than one state.

The value of your home is increased by $20,000 for every $1,000 reduction in annual electricity rates. Even if you are concerned you may be moving, a solar installation will pay off in the end.

You reduce the amount of air pollution, such as carbon dioxide emissions, when you use solar energy, which is 100% clean. Fewer power plants that produce dangerous gases would need to be built if more people were using solar electricity.

Solar helps achieve energy independence. The price stability of solar power is unaffected by the effects of natural disaster and instability of foreign oil sources. In addition, there is less strain on the public power grid when more people are drawing clean energy from the sun.

Two of Many Iowa Solar Incentives

A solar tax credit is available for solar PV and solar thermal systems in Iowa, thanks to Senate File 2342, signed on May 25, 2012, by Governor Branstad. The cap on the awards is $1.5 million, and the credits are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. The income tax credit is for solar energy systems which are installed on Iowa property. The following are a few details about how the tax credit is computed:

For resident properties: 50% of the solar-related federal residential energy efficient property credit provided in sections 48(a)(3)(A)(i) and 48(a)(3)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code, the maximum amount being $3,000.

For commercial & agricultural properties: 50% of the solar-related federal energy credit provided in sections 48(a)(3)(A)(i) and 48(a)(3)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code, for a maximum of $15,000.

As of August 2013, solar panels have been installed on the White House

In 2010, President Barack Obama’s then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that a demonstration of a commitment to increasing renewable power would take place in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and solar hot water being installed on the roof of the White House. Fast forward to now, August of 2013, and it has happened. It took 40 months, but solar panels are now installed on the White House roof. And, incidentally, business owners and homeowners across the U.S. have also installed solar on their rooftops since 2010 to the extent that solar power has quadrupled during Obama’s administration.

Advocates of solar energy, to a large extent, are more frustrated than congratulatory about the new White House solar panels. After all, as many see it, Obama has not provided an example of leadership to Americans by the way the solar project has been delayed. There are also many initiatives he could have implemented as President which would have made much more significant advancements to solar, many argue. And there is no denying that Obama is far more famous for the failure of Solyndra, a bankrupt solar manufacturing company which received a $535 million federal loan guarantee, than he is for an increase in U.S. solar installations.

While they can’t all be attributed to Obama, let’s look at various solar advancements which have taken place during his Presidential term:

The capacity for electricity generation with solar technologies is close to four times what it was when President Obama took office.

In 2012 alone, solar power capacity in the U.S. was increased by 3.3 gigawatts, which is a stunning amount. New solar power capacity that was added last year was greater than the previous three years combined – and they also marked great solar strides.

President George Bush signed an 8 year Investment Tax Credit into law in 2008, but few utilized the tax credit during his tenure due to the global recession that was underway at the time. The Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program (TGP) took the 30% investment tax credit and allowed the credit to be claimed as a grant for renewable energy project developers. In short, developers which did not have tax equity access were able to claim the tax credit at the startup of construction, which benefited the solar industry tremendously. In fact, in solar projects encompassing all 50 states, awards were made to about 44,000 domestic solar projects which leveraged over $7.17 billion in private sector investments as of September 2012.

In spite of serious economic downturns in the U.S., the solar industry has grown enormously, due to the TGP, in large part.

It is estimated that the TGP has supported approximately 60,000 jobs in recent years.

Stimulus funding in the amount of $16 billion went to fund the pre-existing Loan Guarantee Programs of the U.S. Department of Energy. A full 87% of this huge sum of money backed loans mostly to solar and wind power generation projects. Only a small part of the funds funded technology start-ups such as Solyndra.

The story of solar power being installed at the White House has previously been a dismal one. For example, President Carter installed solar panels and President Reagan had them removed. Let’s hope the panels now installed are there to stay and that the current and future administrations will take a stronger lead in advancing a switch to solar power and other renewable energy sources.

There have been many hurdles to jump in the quest to switch to renewable sources of energy, and great strides have been made in the U.S. One challenge that remains in many regions is clearing the red tape involved with acquiring proper permits for the installation of solar panels. Nine cities in California have joined together for the express purpose of streamlining solar permits. There is also help available to everyone, thanks to a website and initiative called Project Permit devoted to the same purpose.

The solar industry has registered complaints for years about large disparities in the cost of solar permitting fees charged by California cities, whether for schools, businesses, churches, or homes. In addition to the cost issue, the amount of time required to maneuver through the bureaucracy of getting permits processed has been an obstruction and a source of frustration.

The good news is that nine East Bay cities have collaborated to make solar permitting a simpler process, an effort that is projected to save homeowners and contractors anywhere from $850 to $3,500 per solar installation. The strategy involves reducing the need to acquire outside engineering assistance in the cities of San Leandro, Richmond, Oakland, Hayward, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Albany, Alameda, and Berkeley. This team effort could have an even more widespread effect by serving as a blueprint for how to streamline the processing of energy permits related to other sustainable energy projects.

In pursuing a switch to solar power, it is not unusual for a homeowner or business owner to have to wait as long as four months simply for the solar permit. By standardizing the permitting process, the time delay should be reduced by at least 25%. When the entire process of getting solar energy systems installed is quicker and easier, the likelihood of customers recommending the experience to others will be much greater.

These cooperative East Bay cities aren’t the only ones to recognize the significance of improving the permitting system. Project Permit is a very helpful website providing valuable resources to help anyone in any community to put the wheels in motion to reduce the amount of red tape.

Project Permit provides a scoring system for solar permitting practices in municipalities throughout the U.S. and shares steps with local leaders and permitting offices for putting best practices in place.

For anyone who wants to help improve the solar permitting process in their town, Project Permit provides three easy steps to follow:

Start by checking to see whether or not the city/county where you live measures up to best practices. There is an interactive map on the website which will reveal their score.

Download a “Simplifying Solar Permitting” packet, personalize it with your name and address, and add the mayor’s address. Send the packet to the mayor along with a fact sheet that’s also on the Project Permit website.

Send the packet to the mayor. The website even provides email addresses for mayors across the U.S. Also email Project Permit, and your action will be followed up on with the mayor’s office.

The cost of solar panels has dropped significantly in recent years, but sometimes progress toward increasing solar installations is hindered by other factors. Complex and time-consuming permitting trips a lot of people up, and it’s great news for solar that many are working to cut the red tape.